PhD thesis


Neutron Transport in Hexagonal Reactor Cores Modeled by Trigonal-Geometry Diffusion and Simplified P3 Nodal Methods


PhD student:
Susan Duerigen
Supervisor:
Dr. S. Kliem (HZDR), Dr. S. Mittag (HZDR), Prof. Dr. R. Stieglitz (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), Prof. Dr. K. Ivanov (Pennsylvania State University)
Division:
Reactor Safety
Period:
07/2008–11/2012


DYN3D is a three-dimensional simulation tool for steady-state and transient analyses of various reactor types developed at the HZDR. It is applicable for square and hexagonal fuel assembly geometries and comprises neutron-kinetic and thermal-hydraulic models.

Different reactor types require special calculation algorithms depending on the respective fuel element geometries. In the framework of this PhD work, both a diffusion and a simplified P3 transport model have been developed and implemented on a trigonal basis to compute the neutron distribution in the reactor core. This method is applicable to the analysis of reactor cores with hexagonal fuel assemblies and allows flexible mesh refinement.